Anuket Bhaduri, left, and his wife, Carleena Bhaduri, attach vines to The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. The Bhaduri family joined other caregivers decorating the float titled; Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

That’s the message Long Beach-based The SCAN Foundation wants to convey Wednesday, Jan. 1, at the 131st annual Rose Parade.

The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float, Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations, being built at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Gabby Goodner works with her father, Jerry Goodner, as they prepare carnations for The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Carleena Bhaduri, left, and her son, Travan Bhaduri, 14, prepare carnations for The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. The Bhaduri family joined other caregivers decorating the float titled; Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Anuket Bhaduri attaches vines to The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. The Bhaduri family joined other caregivers decorating the float titled; Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

A volunteer glues silver leaf on The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. The float is titled; Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Cameron Hills glues eucalyptus leaves to the bottom of The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. Hills joined other caregivers decorating the float titled; Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Anuket Bhaduri, left, and his family prepare carnations for The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. The Bhaduri family joined other caregivers decorating the float titled; Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Anuket Bhaduri, left, and his wife, Carleena Bhaduri, attach vines to The SCAN Foundation Rose Parade float at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale, CA, on Monday, Dec 30, 2019. The Bhaduri family joined other caregivers decorating the float titled; Hope’s Heroes: Honoring Caregivers of All Generations. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Its float features a fairy-tale fortress straight from the pages of “Sleeping Beauty.” The castle is guarded by knights representing those who look after ailing friends and relatives.

SCAN Foundation coordinates services for elderly people and their caregivers. On New Year’s Day, the nonprofit will honor caregivers of and for all ages, said Bruce Chernof, president and CEO of the 12-year-old foundation.

“Home can mean different things to different people,” Chernof said. “It can be your own house, or a retirement community, or a skilled nursing facility – wherever you feel safe and comfortable.”

According to AARP’s latest research, more than 41 million Americans – one in six – provide care to people 18 and older.

This will be SCAN Foundation’s first foray into Pasadena’s fabled spectacle, watched worldwide on television.

“The idea has been percolating for more than a year,” Chernof said. “It’s a competitive process. We learned we were accepted last summer.”

Over the past two weeks, designers, employees and volunteers have been “painting” the float with dry organic materials, including seeds and grains. “I’ve glued my fingers together a few times,” Chernof joked.

On Monday, Dec. 30, the artistes began adding some 112,000 fresh-cut flowers.

“It’s a bucket-list thing for me,” said Chernof, who as a kid growing up in Chatsworth camped out New Year’s Eve along the parade route a few times.

Among the volunteers on Monday was Anaheim resident Carleena Bhaduri. “I love arts and crafts, but I had to give that up for a while,” she said.

Bhaduri, a social worker for Alzheimer’s Orange County, spent the past three years looking after her mother-in-law, who died of cancer in November.

“My family’s care-giving journey just came to a close,” she said. “We needed to connect our loss to something positive.”

Bhaduri said caregivers are behind-the-scenes heroes, sacrificing time and hobbies to assist people with debilitating illnesses.

“It’s not a one-time thing – it can go on for years,” she said. “There’s no break. You wouldn’t have it any other way – my mother-in-law gave us and our children more than we could ever give back. But care giving takes so much away from you.”

After majoring in journalism at the University of Texas, Susan Christian Goulding got her start as a copy editor and reporter at the (late, great) Los Angeles Herald Examiner. She then worked at the (late, great) Santa Monica Outlook and the Daily Breeze as a features editor, writer and columnist. She moved to the Orange County bureau of the Los Angeles Times as a features and business writer. After that five-year stint, she worked as a correspondent for People magazine and a regular freelancer for Readers Digest while raising her two kids, Erin and Matt. During this time, she also wrote a weekly column for the Daily Breeze. Next, she gave up all possibility of free time and earned a teaching credential and masters at UCI. She taught English for four often rewarding and always challenging years in Compton, then at LMU and El Camino College. Missing journalism, Goulding circled back to her original career last year, joining the Orange County Register as a reporter. She also enjoys her return to column writing for the newspaper's OC Home magazine.

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